Simon Mattheson
Name: Simon Mattheson Gender: Male Age: 16 School: Alderbrook High School Hobbies and Interests: Reading and Writing Fantasy Novels, Tinkering with clockwork, Painting and Sketching Appearance: Simon is 5'10", and weighs one hundred and seventy pounds. He is a pale boy, a result of spending much time inside, and has short, sandy blond hair, bordering on brown. His eyes are a blue grey, and he often wears sunglasses, even inside, a result of sensitive eyes. His nose is slightly crooked, the tip slanting to one side, and he has a narrow face with high cheekbones. He is a fairly thin boy, with next to no muscle mass. He dresses in whichever clothes seem to come to the top of his drawer, mostly solid colored t shirts. He prefers women's style jeans, as they do not flap around as much as most men's jeans. At the time of his abduction, he was wearing a red shirt with a pair of blue jeans, and black sneakers. He has a pair of generic brand, wire rim sunglasses. Biography: Simon Mattheson was born to Joseph, a watch maker, and Sarah, currently unemployed. Joseph and Sarah lived in Victoria, BC, and raised their child with as much attention as they could spare. At the time, Sarah was a librarian, and even though Joseph worked out of their home, he was constantly down in his workshop, tinkering with new designs and repairing old ones. At home, Simon seemed fine, and learned to read, and even write, at a very young age. In public however, he was immensely shy, hiding behind his parents whenever they went in public, and focusing all of his attention on the ground. His parents dismissed this shyness, however, assuming that school would break him of it. Once Simon started school, it became clear that this was false. Simon’s shyness developed from shyness to a social phobia. Every time he opened his mouth, he found himself terrified of the reactions of his classmates. In areas with students, he became incapable of speech. In private, he manages to squeak out only broken sentences to his teachers. The teachers soon lost patience with the strange boy, leaving him to his own devices. This only served to enforce his phobia, and he ceased speaking entirely. By the time he was in second grade, the school had determined that he was mentally handicapped, and sent him down to what they called the Beta class, a special learning level for "slower" children. At this time, the school also assigned him to the school counselor and speech therapist, John Sidle, assuming that his lack of communication came from a basic difficulty in forming words. These moves permanently branded Simon as an idiot among his peers, an opinion only furthered by his seeming conscious refusal to speak to them. Classmates started to refer to him as "The Retard" and publicly mocked him for his lack of speech.. The only sympathetic face in the school was his therapist, who took a special interest in the well being of Simon. Simon developed the habit of running to Mr. Sidle’s office whenever there was an incident of bullying. At first, Simon would sometimes try to speak to the counselor, but when the words still came out wrong, he would panic, clamping his mouth shut. Soon, Simon would rarely even try to speak to Mr. Sidle, but he still knew that the office was a friendly place. At this time, Simon’s parents sought professional help to supplement the counseling he got at school. His parents hoped that a professional could help where a school counselor had failed. The psychiatrist attempted standard speech therapy, but was stymied by Simon’s absolute refusal to speak. Finally, he turned to the parents. He gave them a long list of possible causes of Simon’s condition, but declared that the best treatment would be a regimen of anti-depressants. His parents took the prescription thankfully, but shook their head at the bill. There was no way that a watchmaker and a librarian could keep up the expensive regimen. Taking Simon home, they resigned themselves to taking care of their son themselves. As time wore on, Simon turned ever more to reading. Mr. Sidle had an extensive collection of fantasy books on his office book shelf, which Simon borrowed from extensively. In meetings between Simon’s parents and his counselor, he would often push himself into the gap between the book case and the wall, reading, oblivious to the concerns his parents brought up. Mr. Sidle assured them that, though Simon no longer spoke to anyone at the school, he was quite a precocious young boy, and had quite a clever mind. Simon would often compose short stories in a rolling scrawl, detailing fantastical realms. Simon was able to take the time he needed to compose each thought perfectly on paper, pouring his soul into each word. And with the praise he got from Mr. Sidle, Simon became more willing to present his words, and started to turn in his assignments, spending hours getting them just as he wanted them. As he grew older, Simon became more and more skilled in the written word, making up for his lack of speech. The more he wrote, the more it became clear to the teachers at his school that he was something special, so much so that they moved him back up to standard levels in sixth grade and up to an advanced class in seventh. Everything seemed like it would be one day work out for the best, save his ever present silence, a fact still hammered home by the scorn of his peers. At home, Simon began to watch his father’s work with great interest, observing the complicated intricacies of the clockwork. To him, watching a complex series of cogs and gears fit together reminded him of the complex nature of the stories he loved, each cog a vital element in the whole; without one, the rest of the story falls apart. The more he read, and watched, and wrote, the less he spoke at home, until he had little to say to his parents as well. This connection with shapes also showed itself in a knack for art, fitting shapes together in novel ways, designing impossible machines on canvas. He began to express himself almost entirely through his art, letting the delicate curve of a line tell more than he could ever put into his inferior words. At his eight grade graduation, however, a problem arose which neither he nor his parents had foreseen. Mr. Sidle was a school employee. He could not follow Simon to High School. On his first day of High school, Simon was met with a new counselor, a Ms. Haddaway, who had no time for Simon’s silence. She saw him as being merely stubborn, for how could such a prolific writer not be able to talk? She berated him for his stubbornness, telling him that he pull himself together if he ever wanted to succeed. Simon withdrew further and further into his shell until he lacked even the basic interest in his classes. His parents, worried for their son, decided a change of scenery would do him well, and sold their house, moving to the small town of Alderbrook, hoping that the smaller numbers of people would allow Simon to effectively have a fresh start. He was more comfortable at this school, but still remained uncommunicative. His peers mostly ignored him, assuming him harmless, but an enigma. He developed a form of camaraderie with the creative writing instructor, trading stories with the older man, but even then keeping to himself outside of his fantasies. Simon does well in History, English, and is especially gifted in writing and spacial reasoning. Despite this, he does very poorly at math, preferring to sit at the back of the room and lose himself in his words. He often keeps bits and pieces of discarded clockwork in his bag to tinker with in his free time, and always carries a screwdriver or two, tucked in the lining of his bag. He is currently working on a fantasy novel, an homage to Tolkien. It is about a group of elves trapped in an unforgiving desert, far from home. Advantages: Simon is an intellectual, and has gleaned much knowledge from the books he reads. He also is good with his hands, tinkering whenever he is not reading or writing. This means that he will be quite resourceful in his efforts to survive. Disadvantages: He is not athletic, has literally no friends, and, worst of all, is incapable of speaking to his classmates. Few people will take a liking to him, and, after all of the bullying he has taken over the years, he will trust few if any. Despite this, he tends to make singular bonds to individuals. If someone does earn his trust, he would never dream that that person might betray him. Designated Number: Male Student #6 ---- Designated Weapon: A star shaped badge with the word "Sheriff" carved in. Conclusion: Ain't no room for books here, son. Better make some friends 'cos yer a Sheriff now! G'luck with that. The above biography is as written by Jadedflames. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made. Evaluations Kills: Simon Leroy, Ramona Shirley, Kenneth "Ken" Danielson, Warren Davies, Benny Lightfield Killed By: Benny Lightfield Collected Weapons: 'Sheriff Badge (designated, given to Jacqueline "Cameo" Conroy), Walking Staff (Found in Desert), Winchester Rifle (From Simon Leroy's corpse) '''Allies: 'Jacqueline "Cameo" Conroy ' '''Enemies: 'Sycanus Appletin Mid-game Evaluation: Post-Game Evaluation: Memorable Quotes: Other/Trivia *Jadedflames wrote a character bio for each voice in his head. Threads Below is a list of threads that contain Simon, in chronological order *Taste Your Beating Heart *Dust in the Wind *Roaring Rapids of Hell *Taste Your Beating Heart (again) *Mixed Emotions *The Good, The Bad, and the Ohmigodwhatthefuck *A Perfect Day *Scrambled Egg *Duck, You Sucker! Your Thoughts Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Simon. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here! Category:Virtua-SOTF Category:Characters